https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/02/trump-juan-orlando-hernandez-pardon-honduras-drugs/87564181007/
Trump pardons cocaine kingpin who ruled Honduras
Trump said Nov. 28 that he planned to pardon the former Honduran leader, and a White House official confirmed Dec. 2 that the pardon had been issued.
Zac Anderson and Nick Penzenstadler | USA TODAY
Updated Dec. 2, 2025, 4:42 p.m. ET
President Donald Trump pardoned a former Honduran leader sentenced to prison on cocaine distribution charges, a move some Democrats say undercuts the rationale for Trump's aggressive posture toward Venezuela that includes military strikes on alleged drug boats.
Trump said Nov. 28 that he planned to pardon former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez. A White House official and Hernandez's attorney, Renato Stabile, confirmed Dec. 2 that the pardon has been issued. Stabile said Hernandez was released early Dec. 2 from a federal prison, where he was serving a 45-year sentence "for cocaine importation and related weapons offenses," according to the Justice Department.
Hernandez was convicted in March of 2024 after a three-week jury trial in New York City. He was "at the center of one of the largest and most violent drug-trafficking conspiracies in the world," helping to bring more than 400 tons of cocaine into the U.S., the Justice Department said in a news release last year after his conviction.
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